Coming of Age
by faufaren
Summary: Exploration drabbles in the birth, development, and maintenance of the unconventional friendship between young Hisoka and Illumi. Not in chronological order. Takes place before Hunter X Hunter storyline. Kind of AU. Rated for language, violence, sexual elements.
1. Chapter 1: Impressions, Hisoka

Hisoka was the kind of man in which it was impossible not to look at him a second time if you just happened to pass him in the streets.

He had a sense of theatrical flare about himself without even trying. He was a whimsical man who preferred bright and eye-catching colors, ergo his hair was constantly jumping from one brilliant hue to another, as though there was not a single color that could fully satisfy him.

There was one constant on his face, though, and that was the gold of his eyes. It was a cold gold, that made a person think of predators and poison, and they slanted slightly upwards in a way that spoke of eastern descent, though no one except Hisoka himself could be quite sure.

He was also a rather amorous sort of man, androgynous if not in natural appearance then in mannerisms and his way of speech, all charming allures and half-purred words and poetic posturing, such as the way he could effortlessly bend himself into shapes that looked as if he had lost all the bones in his body. Though he was almost taller than most men, he had a taste for high heeled shoes, and was surprisingly nimble in them as well, as he leapt and flipped and twisted around his opponents, who in reality, it was more accurate to call them his victims.

Hisoka was quietly attention-drawing, the type of drama that made him the ideal type of muse for every poet and playwright in the land.

Thus, he was the exact sort of person that Illumi disliked being around. Yet for some reason, Hisoka was at the same time the only person Illumi treated like an equal, other than his own family, and it could almost be called something akin to comradeship, if not unconventional friendship.

The names Hisoka gave his Nen abilities reflected his personality, especially the one he so lovingly called Bungee Gum. Its second name was Elastic Love, and Illumi thought that it fitted the man extremely well. Hisoka loved passionately and obsessively, all-encompassing and indiscriminate regardless of race, age, and sex, so as long as you were strong enough to pique his interest. And still, it could end at any given point in time- once his curiosity was satisfied, or if he found larger bounties to prey upon.

It was kind of fucked up, honestly.


	2. Chapter 2: Impressions, Illumi

Illumi Zoldyck was a man who didn't belong in any category but his own, who took the labels that society put on people, melted them in acid, and reshaped them until he held in his hands something that he approved of.

He was the eldest of all the children in his household, and as such, was groomed to be the perfect, spotless model for all the following children born. Both the mentor and the role model responsible for his younger siblings, he was almost the third parent of his family, if not more because of the sheer limitless measures to which he would go for their sakes.

There were no passions that Illumi had to speak of, but his muse was his beloved little brother, Killua, whom he loved to the point of possessiveness. Hisoka wouldn't be surprised if Illumi had been the one to give his little brother his own name.

He was the quiet type, another predator of a different kind, who observed carefully and snatched his victims out right in front of their families' eyes before they even realized that their own homes had betrayed them. He was the shadow that nobody noticed, the creeping disease that took everyone by surprise because they hadn't known it was deadly.

He, like Hisoka, was also of the androgynous sort, but merely in appearances rather than any mannerisms of his own.

His face had the sort of beauty that marble statues and their sculptors hoped to achieve. Silent and serene, sophisticated yet soft bone structure and lips like finely carved ice. Pale skin that, in accordance with his Zoldyck genes, never tanned or burned. Hair black as midnight, that flowed away from his face and draped on his shoulders and over his back like a thick ebony curtain. But it was his eyes, in Hisoka's opinion, that were the most memorable of all his features, those so very large, shapely eyes that were so dark they greedily sucked the light right out of the very atmosphere and gave none of it back.

Illumi had a way of making you feel very small and very weak with just an offhand glance. He was soft-spoken and rarely, if ever, raised his voice, every single emotion shuttered out and locked up tightly behind that smooth visage until they no longer seemed to exist. Instead, he knew of bloodlust and ruthlessness, of taking what he wanted and changing what he didn't like.

There was a rare kind of beauty inside of Illumi Zoldyck, in the sense that new computers and well-oiled machines were like, and he was Hisoka's until that beauty wore itself out.


End file.
